Let’s be frank: most of us find job interviews stressful. Being bombarded with questions by a stranger who holds your future career in his or her hands is a high-stakes situation that is unlikely to be pleasant. If you have been unemployed for any period of time, you will know from experience that the pressure to succeed mounts. “This could be make or break,” you think to yourself, sweating anxiously in your scratchy shirt.

But imagine, for a moment, that you are also autistic. That you have trouble with social interaction, and that, while your friends and family might be understanding, strangers rarely are. On top of this, there’s the pressure to answer questions honestly – but you’re not sure how honest is too honest. Do you say that you got sacked from your last job because your social difficulties meant you weren’t seen as a “team player”? Do you “come out” with your disability despite the fear that it might count against you? Everything from the brightness of the lights to the office background noise makes you feel completely overwhelmed. And then there’s the fact that there are huge gaps on your CV that are difficult to explain without stating the truth, which is that workplaces are rarely geared towards people like you.

All this is highlighted by the National Autistic Society’s new film, which shows an autistic man undergo a number of job interviews with managers who, mainly through ignorance, lack understanding and empathy about the challenges autistic people might face in a work environment. It’s a stark and affecting piece of work that coincides with the launch of an NAS report into the autism employment gap. Just 16% of autistic adults are in full-time paid work, and only 32% are in some kind of paid work (obviously, some autistic people will be unable to work, but there are also many who would love to do so). The film raises some issues that go some way to explaining why this might be, while offering a much-needed reminder to employers that not everyone is cast from the same mould.

But it’s not all negative. People on the spectrum may struggle with certain workplace activities and interactions, but increasing numbers of companies are recognising how recruiting “neurodivergently” – actively seeking out people whose brains could be said to be “wired” differently – can bring a whole range of skills and abilities to a workforce. GCHQ’s neurodiversity programme is a prime example. Nurturing more than 300 neurodivergent employees, the programme recognises that people with autism, Asperger’s, dyspraxia and dyslexia might have qualities that are deemed a strength rather than a condition. Such strengths might include anything from phenomenal logic and maths skills and a photographic memory to a “tunnel vision” approach to problem-solving, and many more talents in-between. While it’s important not to get too preoccupied with what you might call Rain Man syndrome – the belief that all people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have some kind of savant quality; this is a stereotype that, as the sister of a severely autistic brother, I find intensely frustrating – it is heartening to see workplaces adopting a nuanced approach to autism.

One such workplace is the BBC. At the all-party parliamentary group on autism for the launch of the NAS report, I was introduced to Leena Haque and Sean Gilroy, both members of the finance team who are responsible for Project Cape (Creating a Positive Environment), which they set up in order to improve the support given to neurodivergent employees, as well as highlighting the skills and talents such individuals can bring to the table. Haque is on the spectrum, and when we meet in a crowded, noisy room in the House of Commons, with some of the busiest flock wallpaper, carpet and ceiling adornment I have ever seen, she is feeling unsurprisingly anxious. (Afterwards, I describe the choice of room to my mother as a “massive autism fail”. My own brother would have lasted at most a couple of seconds in there, before completely freaking out. It just goes to show that even groups set up with the specific aim of making things more accessible to people with autism can get it wrong.)

Haque is highly qualified, with degrees from Durham University and the LSE, but because of her autism found it difficult to find employment. “It was hard to get into work and then to find the right level of support and understanding once in work,” she says. “Line managers and colleagues may have heard of autism, but the level of understanding and empathy with what this actually means for me is often what was missing.

“This all changed when I joined the BBC and met my fellowship of superheroes, as I call them – the group of colleagues who have helped and supported me. The training scheme I joined had made appropriate allowances and adjustments to the recruitment process, although it was still challenging for me. The training scheme also provided additional support for me once I started and I was able to disclose my condition, but I could see there was room for improvement, particularly for people who had neurodivergent conditions.

“I suggested that the BBC could help people understand more about the issues facing neurodivergent people in employment, previously referred to as hidden disabilities – and with its support, Cape was born.”

With support from Gilroy, her line manager, and Ian Haythornthwaite, the BBC’s director of finance, Cape delivers the message that people with neurodivergent conditions are welcome at the BBC. “Our message is that individuals aren’t weird, they are just part of a neurodiverse spectrum upon which we all sit,” Haque says. Cape has the seal of approval from the director general, Tony Hall, and the deputy director general, Anne Bulford.

It means that the next generation of BBC employees with ASD will find themselves supported and championed. “We promote the skills and abilities of people with neurodivergent conditions, highlighting the strengths of differently wired brains which see and access a neurodiverse reality through a different lens,” says Gilroy. Initiatives so far have included two point-of-view films that aim to convey the experiences of someone who is neurodivergent. The first highlights the challenges that people can face at work, while the second, more immersive offering looks at the same issues through 360VR (virtual reality).

Project Cape has also improved accessibility at BBC MediaCityUK Salford, and run workshops on unconscious bias set in the scenario of a zombie apocalypse. It is also doing things in the wider community, taking part in the Design Manchester festival to explore the idea of a neurodiverse-accessible journey through Manchester, and is hoping to offer similar suggestions to towns and cities across the UK.

It’s inspiring to see a company such as the BBC taking such a creative and innovative approach to diversity. That’s not to say that there isn’t still a long way to go until society accepts and understands what it means to be autistic, dyslexic or dyspraxic to the point where people feel that they can talk about their conditions without fear of prejudice and discrimination. But as our economy becomes increasingly tech-orientated, the benefits of employing people who might excel in, say, processing, become apparent. Silicon Valley already employs a much higher than average number of people on the autistic spectrum, and this year Microsoft ran a conference on “neurodiversity in the hi-tech workforce” – with Steve Silberman, author of NeuroTribes, as keynote speaker – which was attended by delegates from companies such as Google and Apple.

The benefits of such enlightened thinking are clear. “Organisations should recognise that there are many ways people communicate and they should be more open to understanding this,” says Gilroy. “If they get this right, it will open up recruitment processes and employment and they will be able to reap the reward of accessing an untapped market of creative and technical ability.”

And often, Haque says, it doesn’t take much to be more inclusive. “It is often simply about empowering an individual, so they can feel comfortable in sharing their feelings, as well as making sure you listen to what they need.”